[Leica] Why I want a wet darkroom

[Adam Bridge <abridge@mac.com>]

I'd like to thank everyone who replied to my request. And I'd like to thank BD
for asking the hard question: WHY?

It IS expensive to set up a darkroom. Esp if I went the Jobo route although I
suspect I might find a used one somewhere at a reasonable price.

I'll speak now for me: I want a darkroom because there's a direct relationship
between what I make and what I do with my hands. It's all in the time-domain. If
I want three identical prints, and there's a lot of doging and burning and other
manipulation then I have to do things the same way. So I in the darkroom I have
a work-of-hands.

My computer work - and I have everything that BD mentioned - is not as
satisfying to me. I work on a print in the digital domain. I can make print
after print on my piezo and they will all look the same.

It seems like the art has vanished then. I suppose you can reasonably say that
it has moved to the manipulation of Photoshop. And that's true - and yet I am
left with the feeling that the REAL art is in Photoshop as well as most of the
craft.

There's something in the darkroom PROCESS that I like. The control. Heck I can
make my chemistry from scratch if I want to. That seems to be a fundamental part
of what I like about darkroom work - getting my hands dirty, dealing with what I
have in my mind, the imperfections of the negative (and understanding them so I
do it better when I take my next photos), watching the print develop, thinking
about it, learning what is possible.

Maybe it's because I'm a rookie in the darkroom so every print is new and
different and a different challenge. The joy of making a mistake that leads to
something new for me to explore.

It FEELS like art to me and when I work in the darkroom I feel like an artist.
That's why I desire a darkroom.

Thanks for asking, BD, and for making me think about it.

Adam Bridge
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